John Lister

The number of people using Facebook has dropped in several major countries, according to a recent report. It's not enough to stop an ongoing rise in the global total, but the growth rate worldwide has notably slowed. The figure comes from a firm ... named Inside Facebook, which takes its figures from Facebook's own advertising tools. It notes that measures may vary from source to source and can depend on exactly what is counted. With these figures, only active users are counted, rather than those who leave accounts dormant. National drops include the US falling from 155.2 million to 149.4 million ... (view more)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has made two announcements about successful operations against online bandits. The first is a near-complete takedown of a widespread virus, while the second is a series of arrests and seizures relating to ... two separate cybercrime gangs responsible for scareware scams. The virus in question had allowed criminals to set up a botnet . In short, a botnet is a large network of virus-infected PCs which is remotely controlled by one or a few individuals. The infected PCs are typically used to attack websites, send spam (unsolicited bulk email) to users around ... (view more)

Microsoft has unveiled several changes to its online storage service, SkyDrive. It should mean very noticeable improvements to the speed at which it responds to commands. Share, Access up to 25GB of Free Online Storage SkyDrive offers users 25 GB of ... free online storage, meaning files can be accessed from any machine. Users can decide whether to make files publicly available, in which case the service can be used as a simpler alternative to running a website to host documents or media files, or to make them private and only accessible with a Windows Live log-in. There's some debate over ... (view more)

Two major hacking collectives have announced they've forged a partnership. Anonymous and LulzSec say they are targeting high-profile classified information. The two groups do not carry out hacking in order to make money, either by stealing card ... details or selling bogus security software. Instead, they carry out a blend of hacktivism (a portmanteau of hack and activism), attacks made for a political purpose, or simply for amusement. The Anonymous group has carried out several politically-motivated operations in recent months. Among its most famous activities have been attacks on the homophobic ... (view more)

An online security firm says hackers are putting renewed efforts into breaching web email accounts. The tactics are based on getting hold of web email login details rather than spreading malicious software to PCs straight away. Trend Micro reports ... that while attacks on Google's Gmail have been making headlines, thanks largely to high-profile breaches in China and an ongoing war of words between that country's government and Google, both Yahoo Mail and Hotmail have also been under attack. (Source: pcmag.com ) Online Scammers Look to Double Their Options There appear to be two main tactics in ... (view more)

The Internet's governing body has given final approval to expand website addresses from .com, .net and .org to virtually anything. It could mean a major boost for the web, but may also lead to a barrage of court cases. The decision involved top ... level domains (TLD), the final section of a website address. At the moment these are strictly controlled, with just 22 international domains (the best known being .com) plus 250 or so country-specific domains (such as .ca for Canada). That system has been overhauled by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers. It's just voted in ... (view more)

A Microsoft executive has hinted that Windows 8 could be released next fall. But it's not clear if the comments are based on genuine insider information or if they merely represent speculation. The comments came from Dan'l Lewin, a corporate vice ... president responsible for Microsoft's relationships with other businesses, both major firms and start-up companies. Regarding the Windows timescale he said, " ... if you look at the crystal ball and just say what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be .... we've made the point about having a ... (view more)

It's not unusual these days for the computer systems of major banks to come under attack. But the latest high-profile attempted breach has gone a step further by targeting the International Monetary Fund (IMF), prompting speculation that a national ... government may be the offender. The Washington DC-based IMF is an organization that provides loans to governments in financial difficulties. It also helps coordinate the collection and publication of financial data by governments. Although the International Monetary Fund is releasing few details, it has confirmed there has been a "very major breach ... (view more)

Microsoft has failed in a Supreme Court bid to overturn a $290 million patent violation ruling. Not only is it the largest such award ever upheld, but this final ruling has significant consequences for patent law. The case involves XML documents, an ... advanced version of the HTML webpage code that allows data to be tagged to designate its content rather than just the way it appears on screen. The code makes it much easier to organize document content (for example, in a database). Microsoft Office XML Support Began with Office 2003 Microsoft built support for reading XML documents into the 2003 ... (view more)

It's rumored Microsoft may soon launch its own iPad-style tablet device. The gadget would run Windows 8 and be specifically marketed as a Microsoft machine. Such a measure would be a major change in Microsoft's business strategy. In the past it has ... steered clear of producing its own computers, the polar opposite of Apple's strategy of having a monopoly on its hardware and software. According to Digitimes, a Taiwan-based technology newspaper, the device would be made in association with Texas Instruments and hardware manufacturers based in Taiwan. Their report is based on sources from the " ... (view more)